Cal Baseball: Tigers At The Stu
The Clemson Tigers outscored Cal 23-10 over the weekend in their first ever ACC matchup to sweep the Bears, while Cal collected 18 hits against the Pacific Tigers en route to a 14-8 win on Monday.
The California Golden Bears returned home to Stu Gordon Stadium after their season-long nine-game road trip to host the No. 6 team in the nation and the ACC’s Clemson Tigers for a three-game series that began with a Friday night opener in front of 1,163 fans. The Tigers entered Friday night at 27-5 with a 6-3 record in the ACC. California is coming off a win against Sacramento State to improve to 16-12 with a 6-6 conference record entering the ACC-conference matchup.
Friday, April 4th. Tigers Take Game One.
Austin Turkington got the start for the Golden Bears as he looked to get his 5th win of the season. Last weekend against the Louisville Cardinals, Turkington went 3.0 innings and allowed a season-high seven earned runs on seven hits, and got the game started for the Bears against the red-hot Clemson Tigers with a three-up-three-down top of the 1st with back-to-back Jarren Purify and Cam Cannarella strikeouts.
The Tigers’ Aidan Knaak made his eighth start on Friday night. Last week against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he went 5.0 innings and gave up five earned runs for his fourth win of the season, and looked to pick up his fifth of the year against the Bears while still not picking up a loss on the season thus far. Alex Birge reached base on a walk in the bottom of the 1st and advanced on a wild pitch by Knaak to put a runner in scoring position early, and a Jacob French RBI single to center would bring him home and give Cal the early 1-0 lead.
Clemson could not get anything going against Turkington, as the Bears added another run in the bottom of the 3rd with a Jarren Advincula lead-off single, stolen-base, and advancement on another wild pitch by Knaak, for Smaldino to bring him home on a Sac-Fly and give the Bears a 2-0 lead over the No. 6 Clemson Tigers.
Turkington continued to dominate against the Clemson offense, not allowing a run until the top of the 6th inning when Dominic Listi hit a home run to right center field for the Tigers’ first run and extra-base hit of the game. Cal’s Alex Birge, Dominic Smaldino, and Jacob French would be retired in order quickly in the bottom of the 6th, and the Tigers would respond in the top of the 7th with a lead-off walk, followed by Tryston McCladdie reaching on an error by Alex Birge trying to field a sac-bunt attempt, with Dominic Listi doubling both runners home, and scoring on a Jarren Purify double to end Austin Turkington’s night and bring Logan Piper in for the Bears, down 4-2 in the Top of the 7th with two outs. Piper walked both Cannarella and Gaffney to quickly end his night after facing just two batters, and Cole Tremain came in to record the final out of the inning but threw a wild pitch to allow Purify to score and give Clemson a 5-2 lead.
The Tigers would add one more in the 8th against Cal reliever Cole Clark, as Jacob Jarrell led off the inning with a base hit up the middle and advanced to second base on a passed ball by Alex Birge, allowing him to score on a base hit by Josh Paino before Ciufo and Listi were retired to end the inning.
The Bears clawed back in the bottom of the 8th with back-to-back one-out singles by Seth Gwynn and Jarren Advincula, finally getting Knaak out of the game after 7.1 innings, and back-to-back Smaldino and French singles passed the first baseman would score both runners and put the Bears within two heading into the top of the 9th, where Cole Clark got Purify, Cannarella, and Gaffney out 1-2-3 in just eight pitches.
Clemson closer and sidearm hurler Lucas Mahlstedt made his 12th appearance out of the bullpen for the Tigers, looking to get his 10th save of the season with a two-run lead as Max Handron led off the bottom of the 9th inning with a base hit to right for the Bears and was pinch run for by Elijah Clayton, but Carl Schmidt, Ryan Tayman, and Seth Gwynn all struck out to end the game, and the Clemson Tigers took game one 6-4, with Aidan Knaak picking up his fifth win of the season (5-0) going 7.1 innings, giving up four earned runs, and striking out four. Austin Turkington (4-3) picks up his third loss of the season after striking out nine in 6.2 innings and giving up five runs with only one earned.
Saturday, April 5th: Clemson Chews Up Cal on Dog Day at the Ballpark.
The No. 6 Clemson Tigers and California Golden Bears were back at it in Berkeley for a Saturday “Dog Days at the Park” afternoon baseball game at Stu Gordon Stadium in front of an attendance of 1,224 fans and a bunch of adorable pets! Cal looked to even the series as the Tigers tried to win it, with the Bears’ game two starts going to Gavin Eddy, who struggled in his last outing against Louisville, only pitching 1.1 innings and allowing five earned runs and three walks, while the Bears came back to win that game in the 7th.
Eddy struggled again on Saturday as Clemson jumped on him early with a leadoff four-pitch walk to Listi, followed by back-to-back singles by Purify and Cannarella to load the bases for Collin Priest with only one out in the top of the 1st. Priest launched a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall towards the Edwards Field for a grand slam, with Jacob Jarrell hitting a solo shot directly after, and Josh Paino hitting a solo home run of his own with two outs for the Tigers to take a 6-0 lead off of three home runs in the 1st inning.
Clemson’s Ethan Darden got the start for the Tigers after coming off a horrendous outing against Georgia Tech, where the starter went 3.2 innings and gave up nine earned runs on 10 hits, three of them being home runs, as the Yellow Jackets took their only win of the three-game series 18-2. Darden quickly retired the Cal offense on eight pitches, allowing the Tigers offense to get right back out to the plate, and Eddy’s afternoon was over as Tucker Bougie came in relief for the Bears in the top half of the 2nd.
Bougie walked Listi and Purify on eight straight balls before giving up an RBI-double to Cannarella, ending his afternoon with 0.0 innings, one earned run, and responsible for both runners on base, as Lucas Alaniz took the mound and got Gaffney to fly out with Purify scoring on the play, giving Clemson an 8-0 lead. Priest followed with an RBI double to score Cannarella, with Jarrell walking in the next at-bat while McCladdie flew out to center as Paino came to the plate with two outs and singled through the left side, scoring Priest and giving the Tigers a 10-0 lead. Now with two runners on and two outs, shortstop Andrew Ciufo came to the plate and crushed a three-run home run down the left field line, giving Clemson their 13th and final run of the ball game in just the 2nd inning.
Dominic Smaldino led off the bottom half of the 2nd with his eighth home run of the season to get the Bears on the board, but French and Moutzouridis both would ground out to Purify at second base, as Handron would fly out to center to end the inning. The Bears would plate one more across in the bottom of the 5th with Jacob French leading off with a base hit through the right side of the infield, with Handron and Matthew Thomas getting singles of their own to load the bases for Elijah Clayton, who could only bring home one run on a sacrifice fly before Darden would get out of the inning as Advincula flew out to center to end his hitting streak at 15 games. The Bears added one more on a Cade Campbell home run in the bottom of the 6th with one out to make it a 13-3 ballgame, with Campbell increasing his season average to .391 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs.
The Tigers would be held to their 10-run lead through the top of the 7th as Nathan Dvorsky took the mound in relief for Ethan Darden, who finished the game with 6.0 innings pitched, only allowing three runs on five hits while striking out one. Dvorsky made quick work of Cal’s offense as Kodama grounded out to Purify at second, and back-to-back strikeouts on Donnelly and Thomas would end the game in seven innings via mercy rule as the Tigers would take game two 13-3 and the series in Berkeley. Cal’s bullpen in innings three - seven held the Tigers to no runs on six hits, with Miles Tenscher striking out three Tigers and Jake Guardiancic K’ing two.
Sunday, April 6th: Clemson Sweeps Cal in a 4-3 Battle.
Cal looked to avoid the sweep in Sunday’s 1 PM matchup and getaway game for the Tigers, as Mike Neu and the staff turned to Pleasanton native Oliver de la Torre for his second start of the season and ninth appearance on the mound for the Bears. de la Torre pitched 5.2 innings in relief for Cal last weekend in their lone win against Louisville, getting the win and striking out eight while allowing just two hits to the No. 18 Cardinals.
Keeping that momentum going, de la Torre retired the Clemson offense three-up, three-down to start the ballgame, and Alex Birge gave Cal their first lead of the series with a go-ahead solo shot to right-center field off of Clemson’s B.J. Bailey for his eighth home run of the season.
de la Torre cruised through the first three innings and got two quick outs in the top of the 4th, but the Tigers got two runs across on a two-run home run from the pinch-hitting Tristan Bissetta to go ahead 2-1 and added one more in the 5th as Cannarella reached second on a walk and stolen base, and scored on a Gafnney single up the middle to go ahead 3-1.
Cade Campbell would get a rally going for the Bears in the bottom of the 6th with a lead-off single to left and advanced to second on a one-out base hit by Jacob French to put two runners on for Cal. B.J. Bailey’s day ended here as Drew Titsworth came in to relieve him with one out, and after Moutzouridis grounded out to second base and advanced both runners into scoring position, Titsworth threw a wild pitch that allowed Campbell to score and put French at third for a Max Handron RBI-single to tie the game at 3-3.
The Tigers would not allow the tie game to last, as Cole Tremain was in to pitch for the Bears, and with Purify leading off the inning with a hit-by-pitch and stealing second, a Cannarella ground out would move him over to third for a Gaffney Sac-Fly to give Clemson a 4-3 lead that they would hold onto, as Cal could not get a runner past second base in their next three innings at the plate to lose the contest and be swept by the Clemson Tigers, games to none.
The Clemson Tigers improved to 30-5 with a 9-3 record in the ACC and moved up to No. 4 in the NCAA DI Baseball rankings, as Cal dropped to 16-15 with a 6-9 record in the ACC, and looked to Monday night against the Pacific Tigers to try and get back in the win column for the week.
Monday, April 7th: Bears Beat Pacific Tigers on Season-High 18 Hits.
The Golden Bears wrapped up their home stay with a non-conference matchup against another fellow Tigers baseball program, this time the Stockton, California-based Pacific Tigers, as the Bears looked to add a win to their record before traveling to the Atlantic coast for a weekend series in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The Golden Bears went with their standard bullpen game for the 6:00 PM NorCal showdown, with David Shaw getting the start for Cal against the Tigers’ starting lineup in the top of the 1st, where UoP jumped ahead 1-0 on an RBI double by Jake Tandy. Shaw would go 2.0 innings and only allow one run, as the Bears would take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a rally started with three consecutive hits by Dominic Smaldino, Jacob French, and PJ Moutzouridis to tie the game at 1-1, and Carl Schmidt bringing French and Moutzouridis home with an RBI single through the third baseman and shortstop to give Cal a 3-1 lead. Advincula would bring Schmidt home on an RBI triple for his second three-bagger of the year, giving Cal a 4-1 lead heading into the 3rd.
Spencer Dessart relieved Shaw in the 3rd and gave up a two-run home run to Brian McClellin to bring the score back within one, and the Bears would strand French and Moutzouridis after they both reached on-base hits to keep the game at 4-3, as the Tigers could not get any runs back in the 4th. Nathen Nino relieved Pacific starter Carson Revay in the bottom of the 4th to face Schmidt, Gwynn, and Advincula- with Carl Schmidt reaching on a triple and Gwynn blasting him home with a two-run home run to give the Bears a 6-3 lead. Jarren Advincula singled to right after going down 0-2 in the count, with Alex Birge and Cade Campbell both walking right after to load the bases for Dominic Smaldino to smash a grand slam down the left-field line to give Cal a 10-3 lead. Handron would add one more with an RBI double off of relief pitcher Josh Souza, as the Tigers would finally get out of the inning after allowing seven runs on five hits.
Jake Guardiancic made his fifth relief appearance of the season in the 5th inning, walking Romney and giving up a base hit to McClellin before hitting Evans with a pitch and exiting the game with loaded bases for Kaden Taque to try and work out of the inning. Taque gave up a base hit to Tandy, which scored Romney, and Waldon would fly out to left for a sac-fly RBI before Bicknell popped up to Smaldino at first, and the Tigers would be held to just two runs in the inning. Cal would get one back as Advincula led off the bottom half of the 5th with a double, and scored on a sac-fly RBI from Jacob French to make it 12-5.
The Tigers scored two more in the 6th as DJ Scott led off by reaching base after getting hit by a pitch and advancing to third on a Diego Davis single to right, and inevitably scoring after Taque threw a wild pitch that got passed Birge before Kordell Brown was hit by a pitch and Taque’s afternoon was over. Ethan Foley came in to relieve him with one out and two runners on, and a McClellin single allowed Brown to score, making it 12-7 before Evans struck out swinging and Tandy grounded out to Moutzouridis to end the inning.
Cal would go unresponsive at the plate until the bottom of the 7th, when Campbell singled up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch, followed by Smaldino walking after working a 3-2 count. Jacob French brought both runners home on a two-RBI triple to right, making it 14-7 and would be all the runs Cal would need, as Pacific would score once more in the top of the 9th off of Jordy Lopez on a fielder’s choice to make it 14-8, but that would be it for the Tigers as Cal would go on to win the game, elevated by Dominic Smaldino’s 3-4 day at the plate (3 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB) and Ethan Foley (3-2) picking up his third win of the season as the Bears improve to 17-15 on the season, but remain two games under .500 at home.
Cal will travel to Atlanta this week to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for their first ACC series since joining the conference. Game one will be Friday, April 11th, at 3:00 PM. Game two will be on Saturday, at 1:00 PM, and game three will be on Sunday, at 10:00 AM, with all games streamed on ACCNX/ESPN+.
Great crowd on a beautiful Sunday. but the Bears’ bats fell one timely hit short. It would have been awesome to see the crowd erupt. Looking forward to watching the GA Tech games. One serious concern I have. The games televised from Cal and Stanford are inferior in number of video cameras, replay features, graphics, etc. compared to virtually every other ACC team’s home television coverage. Our video on ACCN is now limited to one camera behind home plate, far inferior to the full complement of cameras, replay and graphics PAC-12 Network provided. Our commentators are excellent. But we need to have competitive video coverage. It will be a consideration (in addition to money earned of course) on the part of a star player selecting where to play his college ball: “Do I want my parents, friends, and MLB scouts to be able to see me play on television, where the quality of video coverage is at least consistent with the other D1 college programs’ television coverage?” If the answer is yes, the player will not select Cal. I don’t know if the ACC Network has made this decision to shortchange Cal and Stanford on this or if, rather, the schools themselves across the ACC are responsible for footing the bill for these features. But as it stands now this is a glaring discrepancy.